I'm in the process of modifying a helicopter with pop-out floats. I built the floats in both the packed & inflated positions but, I'm unsure on how to animate them. I have heard that they will have to be animated through a light switch which is fine. Can someone let me know how to do this ?

either gmax or fsds, you're looking at some creative folding of the "floats".

Make one, or the other, your primary float model.

You'll have to split the floats up into component "parts", appropriately tagged.

Your parts will be open at time=100, and the individual parts all "bunched up" or "closed" at time=0

Think of key frame animation as clay figure animation - You move each part to the position desired and take a photo (key frame).  The difference lies in that the program calculates for you the intermediate action.

Where it gets tricky, and this will be trial and error, will be that you may have to add several intermediate frames or stops, so that the float parts unfold "decently' and you don't get parts suddenly flying.  You want to achieve the look of the parts filling up.

I'm using Gmax . As a first timer, I might be biting off more than I can chew but, I'm a stickler for detail and I want it to look as good as I can make it.
So, I can make the floats appear to inflate in incriments? I was told that I would need to make them appear with a light switch. An ON-OFF type of appearance. What you are saying is that I will need to make each float (packed, inflating and inflated) stage appear in frames with the flick of a switch ???. Am I limited to how many "frames" between the fully folded bag and the fully inflated bag?

I have never animated before but, it sounds like a good chalenge !

Thanks for the tips. I'm sure that I'll be asking for more help on this later .

Thanks Felix ! I'm going to try it out.

A light switch would not be ideal for the smooth animation you want.  You need something that can be animated smoothly like a door or the tailhook.

Tailhook is a good 'un.  Remember to add an appropriate entry into the aircraft.cfg file though.


Kev